This is the first story in a three-part series dealing with the legality of county commissions. Wednesday’s story will be about county planning commissions and if the panels are legal. The fi...

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Editor's Note

This is the first story in a three-part series dealing with the legality of county commissions. Wednesday’s story will be about county planning commissions and if the panels are legal. The final story will be about policing in counties and townships.

According to a Bellaire, Mich., man, all but two counties in the state have an illegal county commission.

Kent McNeil, 53, told a group in Onaway Saturday the illegality came about in 1968 when the state Supreme Court of Appeals made a ruling in an Ontonagon County case.

“Under the Michigan Constitution of 1963, Article 7, Sections 7, 8 and 9, we are to have a board of supervisors made up of one elected official from each organized township in the county government,” the U.S. Army veteran said. “In 1968, the progressive socialists filed a lawsuit against Ontonagon County and got the Court of Appeals to say the board of supervisors was unconstitutional. That is a lie.”

McNeil has a masters in criminal justice and is working on his juris doctorate with a specialization in constitutional law.

“What the court said was Ontonagon County’s proportional plan was unconstitutional because one township was not represented because only three people lived there,” he said. “They used that to drive the truck through. They pulled it out of thin air and created a new form of government.”

McNeil said that was when it was decided board members would come from districts based on the federal census.

In Cheboygan County, under the legal scenario presented by McNeil, there should be 20 supervisors making up the board and not the current seven representing districts.

The extra seat would represent the city of Cheboygan.

“Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t let them threaten you,” he told the audience. “We are the government. Every single one of you is the government.”

The speaker said there are three forms of county government – general law, charter and alternative. Most counties are general law but two – Oakland and Wayne counties.

“Everyone of your counties in Northern Michigan is a general law county,” McNeil said. “They have absolutely no police power authority at all.”

He said this was backed by then Attorney General Jennifer Granholm when she was asked about a county want to pass a noise ordinance.

“She said they couldn’t. They had no police power authority unless it is on county property,” he said. “They are restricted to just county affairs.”

Charter counties have to have at least 750,000 residents before a charter can even be applied for from the state.

“Under this form, the people are surrendering regulatory authority to the government to operate under a charter you give them,” McNeil said.

The final form is an alternative county where several counties can come together for such purposes as hiring or electing a county administrator. It has to be done by charter though.

Page 2 of 2 - McNeil said counties also are operating illegally because any funds remaining at the end of a budget year need to be returned to the taxpayers.

“Any money left at the end of that budget year has to go back to the taxpayers. If not, they have exceeded their authority,” he said. “They are setting up their little utopias.

McNeil said he is going to take action against his home county of Antrim.

“The constitutionality of these counties is going to be challenged,” he said. “ I am going to do it.”

He cited some examples of how Antrim County has abused its authority.

“Our county purchased a $15 million municipal bond for 25 years. They can only borrow for a given year to defray current expenses of the county,” he said. “How can they do it. It was spent for Meadowbrook (a long-term private hospitalization firm).”

The speaker went on to say his county, and others, are paying for such things as pensions, retirements and health care costs and those actions are not a provided service in the state constitution.